It Takes a Town

Premise: The characters are part of Wolf Rock which is a small town located in the East of the Empire near the mountains. The town is a relatively quite place that sometimes suffers goblin or in rarer cases beastman raids. Only a month ago however the nearest town of Sunshine Pass which lies some 24km to the south was found totally destroyed. Houses smashed, people found as nothing more then pools of blood and bones, and giant foot prints. There could be no mistake; this was the work of a giant.

Wolf Rock became the center of panic with the news. Surely the giant would come for them next. And it did, 2 weeks after the destruction of Sunshine Pass. He came out of the mountains knocking over trees and casting rocks aside. Clearly the monster did not think this was enough fanfare for its entrance and so it topped off the performance by hurling a rock into the town that crushed a local tanner’s hut, killing him and his wife.

The giant strode into town where a few hot headed youths jumped out to try and engage the monster but they were soon put down, into the soles of their boots to be exact.

The giant then let the town know their new master’s name which was Lord Thundermaw. He then instructed the town of his demands. The town would leave him a payment every month. It would include 2 cows, 8 sheep, 10 barrels of ale, and shiny things of value enough of which to fill one of his huge hands. Also every 5 days he would come by for a basket of vegetables and 3 barrels of ale. The village head hastily agreed to the demands egger to get the giant out of the town.

It has been 2 months since these demands were made and the villagers have paid the giant but the payments are putting a huge strain on the small community. In fact, there is not enough live stock left to pay next month’s payment. Too far from the Empire to acquire any form of aid the community must either continue to make payments or find a way to rid themselves of the giant. But can a small fishing and farming village really fight off such a monster?

The characters represent a small band of villagers who will not stand to see their village wiped out! Nobody else is rising to meet the challenge so the characters after having several meetings have come decided now is the time to act...

Players: 3-5 (Could be more but the giant’s stats should be increased.)

The Heroes or Fools: While it would make it easier to have all the characters be able to pick their carriers this would most likely lead to a group of all warrior types with a few magic users. So in true gritty style the characters will roll on the random career chart. The players may roll once and may use either of the dice rolled as 10’s or 1’s. Thus giving the character a choice of 2 careers. If the character rolls doubles the character will be allowed another roll but this time must select which of the dice is to be the 10’s and 1’s.

On top of that certain characters will not be allowed. Those are as follows: Apprentice Wizard, Marine, Kislevite Kossar, Mercenary, Noble, Outlaw, Outrider, Pit Fighter, Protagonist, Seaman, Smuggler, Soldier, Zealot

Races: Characters may be humans, dwarf or halfling. If there are 3-4 players only one player may be a dwarf or halfling. If there are 5 or more players then a halfling and a dwarf may be played (Thus 3 humans, 1 halfling, and 1 dwarf if the players desire).

Stats: Will be rolled but can be assigned, with the ability to take an average on one roll. Welcome to the GRIM world of fantasy.

I ain’t no greenhorn: Characters will start with either 5 advances.

Gear up: NEW -Characters will draw cards for their random items. 1 draw from the battle deck (weapons, armor, draughts), 2 draws from the tool deck (various things such as tents all the way to a spyglass), and finally 1 draw from the odd deck (odd things, there are no doubles in the deck, some are very useful, some are... well you'll see). This is to reflect the backwater nature of their location. Not everything is as easy to obtain as it might be in a bigger village or a city.

Characters are free to trade these items before the game begins and will also get some gold to spend on items they want. For rarer items the character may want to come up with a story of how they obtained it. Perhaps an outing to a city, a traveling merchant, etc. This should help add a little bit of character to the game.

Even Heroes need help: Fate points work a little different. In most cases in which a character must burn a fate point to survive he will simply not take damage. This can be a miss for the attacker, the weapon catches, glances off the character’s lucky charm, etc. If a character is at 0-2 HP and has to burn a fate point he will also heal 1D10 HP.

Goals: To kill the giant! Or to at least somehow get rid of it. Also not getting the entire village killed would be nice. This is the character’s town so they should care enough to do something, not just run away. So it is important that players realize they are all playing characters WHO CARE ABOUT THE TOWN AND DO NOT LIKE TO SEE THEIR FELLOW VILLAGERS HARMED.

Another goal is to in-force that the players are to be in character. That is, while they might have a pretty nice plan, their character in the game might have no idea how to implement it. Players should remember that their characters are in a tiny back water fishing and farming village where almost none of the residents have an education outside their careers.

Careers are really important. I hope that each player will really come to terms with his character’s career. This will help establish the mood and hopefully allow the players to come up with some really neat ideas to take on the giant.

To have fun! The main goal of course. Taking on a giant with such groups that could include servants, fishermen, farmers, woodsmen, body guards, and other day to day careers I think could be a lot of fun. That is why I think this would make a better one shot… or maybe two shot.

So what about the town?

Population: 75
Village Elder: Gunter Kold
Village Council:
Martha Hubert – Peasant
Old Nugget – Miner
Sir Manieth Cornmal – Noble

Exports: Grain, milk, and small amounts of ore (the mine was just discovered).

Town History:
The town is about 200 years old so it has a fair amount of history. It is a peaceful town that has only seen one goblin raid and sometimes sees a beastman or two. The goblin “raid” was a party of 25 goblins that caused quite a bit of problems some 20 years ago. It was a very scary situation at the time though for a village that rarely saw fighting. The hero of the conflict was George Prime, who while is a bit older now is still thought of as the warrior of the village.

The beastman rarely cause problems unless someone goes deep into the nearby woods. The village usually leaves out barrels of blood and guts from slaughtered animals to keep the beastman at bay.

The village was founded by Cornmal’s family so the family has quite a bit of power around the town. They own quite a few of the farms but by many city standards are not very rich at all. Manieth spends a bit on any traveling merchants who claim to have the latest fashions from Aldorf.

About 10 years ago a local miner discovered a rich vein of copper and iron. The town is still in the process of trying to utilize it correctly and several new comers have come to town because of the new jobs available.

The largest near-by city is located over 50km away and it called Hilltop. It is, surprisingly, situated on top of several hills and the small valleys between. This leads to some very unique architecture.

Places of note in town:

The Meeting Circle:
Located in the center of town this circle is made up of red bricks in a circle about 2 meters in diameter. Quite small for the town’s population but it serves its purpose. During nice days town meetings are held here as well as festivals.

The Howling Ale Inn:
The only inn in town that was built some 50 years ago. It is quite a nice place that serves travelers who are taking side routes through the mountains or small trade caravans heading North or South. It also doubles as a small general store. It is run by Henry Baneheart with his wife Susan.

All Things Pointy:
A local blacksmith and fletcher set up this store about 10 years ago. While they sell weapons they also do repair on all sorts of metal goods. The fletcher has his hands fairly full making arrows for the various hunters and even the town’s people.

Big Pete’s Treasure Wagon:
A traveling salesman who frequents the town. He usually comes by every month or every 2 months. He sometimes has some very rare finds.

Happenings & Mummers about town:

1. Big Pete was last in town about a month and half ago; he should be due soon…

2. There was a drunken brawl at the Howling Ale Inn two nights ago; I hear the Harrison boys held their own! Why did the fight start? I ‘unno, I was too busy throwing punches!

3. I hear the giant will eat us all if we even miss one payment, we should leave this town! I heard the bandits to the West haven’t been as active so it’s perfect!

4. Sir Cornmeal has coin… why not let him pay off the giant? He owns all that land anyway!

5. Too bad that giant hadn’t come 20 years sooner! Ol’ George would have given him what for and sent him packing!

6. Martha Hubert’s got two new calfs… shame we will never get to see them grow up, Sigmar help us!

7. Those new comers(mine workers) in town are awfully suspicious… came right before the giant did…

Thundermaw

Massive even for a giant he stands 20 feet tall. When seen by the village and the characters he is clearly dressed for battle. Around his head he wears a mail coif that looks like it is constructed from chains and barrels. The rest of his body is covered by what appears to be patchwork leather armor held together by lengths of worn rope and wooden planks nailed together. Various human and animal skulls hang from his rope belt and bracelets as well as a strange one over his right shoulder. He wields a giant club that seems to be little more then a crudely worked tree. His smell is quite awful and lingers for a day after he has left the village.